


Can you go home again?

by gateship



Series: Avengers Assemble [19]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis Backstory, Darcy Lewis's Family, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-01 02:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11476674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gateship/pseuds/gateship
Summary: After moving all of their belongings and Jane's research materials out of the SHIELD facility in Roswell to prepare for the eventual move into Avengers Tower upon its completion, Darcy only has one thing left to do: Head to her parents' house and officially move out of it. She's not particularly looking forward to it -- even less so when Agent Romanov shows up to "help her pack."No really, it's to help her pack.





	1. Chapter 1

Since Thor was officially an Avenger, Darcy had a job working for said Avengers (she was still wondering how exactly her job was a real job and why anyone thought she was qualified for it), and the three of them were all officially moving into the Avengers Tower to continue being roomies once it was done, Jane and Darcy decided that maybe it was time to move out of Tony Stark’s penthouse in New York and get their stuff from the SHIELD facility in Roswell. It had been almost a month since the Chitauri invasion and Jane had been getting anxious about her equipment after a week.

Jane had been working out of some SHIELD research labs in between trying to get to see Erik and Darcy or Thor dragging her back to the penthouse to sleep. The Chitauri invasion had apparently been super interesting science wise, not that Darcy understood any of what Jane spouted out about it. The Roswell facility sent over the data Jane’s machines recorded from the entire ordeal, but Jane was worried about what the SHIELD researchers there were actually doing with her machines.

SHIELD had given them one of the larger Quinjets to take out to the Roswell facility in order to collect their things and Jane’s research notes and equipment. Jane pretty much just shoved her personal belongings into boxes as fast as she could before running out of their tiny apartment in the facility to the research labs. Jane didn’t have a ton, living a minimal lifestyle out of the trailer as she did, and Thor didn’t have much either. Once he was done he followed after Jane to the labs to either glare and intimidate people into following Jane’s orders or to do the heavy lifting for her. Darcy didn’t take very long in packing up her own belongings but was decidedly more careful and organized about it. Before she headed to the lab she went and labelled all of Jane and Thor’s boxes with “Apartment / Personal” with their names.

After that there was just one thing left to do: Fly to Maryland and officially move out of her parents’ house.

It was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to be moving home any time soon, possibly ever. She really hadn’t expected her internship out in the middle of nowhere to last longer than a semester, much less lead to an actual adult job. But then Thor happened and then the Chitauri happened and then suddenly “Social Media Analyst” for the Avengers happened. Not that her parents would probably believe that it was an actual job. But, as far as they were aware she was working a government job thanks in part to her internship with Dr. Foster. It was a boring job, but she couldn’t talk much about it other than the fact that it required her to move to New York.

The Quinjet had taken Jane, Thor, and their belongings back to New York but Fury had apparently not okayed one taking Darcy to Maryland. So, she’d been dropped off at the Roswell airport for her direct flight to BWI. While a Quinjet flight would’ve been better and faster, at least it was only an almost four-hour flight rather than one that involved layovers or connections. Still, almost four hours in a cramped economy seat was bound to be a nightmare.

She was waiting in the holding pen with another ten minutes to go before boarding would begin when someone dropped into the seat next to her. It wasn’t a packed holding pen and there were plenty of other seats available, so Darcy glanced out of the corner of her eye at the woman. It took a good thirty seconds for her to actually recognize the face she’d glimpsed briefly. She was going to blame the quick glance and the fact that Natasha had managed to dye her hair brown since the last time they’d seen one another.

“Did you seriously fly all the way from New York just to fly to Maryland?” she asked, sitting back in her seat.

“I came out on the jet that took Dr. Foster back,” Natasha said. “But essentially yes.”

“Are you my babysitter?” Darcy asked.

Natasha shrugged. “Thought you might want a distraction. And we do technically work together. Benefits of flying with me are that you get a free upgrade to first class and you don’t need to drive from Maryland to New York.”

“Fury can’t have approved that. He didn’t even approve of letting me take a Quinjet out,” Darcy said.

“No, but Phil did,” Natasha said.

“You’re sure you’re not my babysitter?” Darcy asked again.

“No, I’m your new roommate Natalie from work who’s helping you pack your stuff up to move to the Big Apple. Next week you’re helping me move,” Natasha said. As she finished, the pitch of her voice went up slightly and she adopted a touch of a southern drawl.

“Natalie?” Darcy asked. “And I’m not taking any furniture, just clothes and books and stuff.”

“Natalie’s close enough to Natasha,” she said. “And I don’t mind.”

Well, this was clearly to make sure that she wasn’t going to blab about working for the Avengers or to vet her family in person as part of the background check she had no doubt they’d run last November. Whatever the reason, Darcy didn’t foresee it being very fun. She and Natasha Romanov hadn’t really interacted that much, and what she had seen and learned Natasha was insanely intimidating.

And now she had to, presumably, sit next to her for the next four hours. At least it was now first class rather than economy.

 

The flight wasn’t actually that bad, except for the part where Natasha legitimately pulled out a Russian (though not Cyrillic) version of _Crime and Punishment_. Darcy had been assigned to read it in high school and hadn’t even gotten through the first chapter before resorting to Spark Notes. She knew Natasha was Russian given the etymology of her last name, but Darcy hadn’t been able read it in English, so she couldn’t even begin to fathom trying to read it in Russian.

In addition to the seat upgrade from economy to first class (and boy had that been delightful and Darcy never wanted to travel economy ever again) there was also an upgrade on her transportation. She’d planned on just taking the Metro and then a bus to her parents’ home in the suburbs, but Natasha just strolled over to one of the rental counters and within five minutes was heading back with a set of keys.

“We’re getting a car?” Darcy asked. “I was going to rent a U-Haul and drive it up to New York.”

“We can still do that if you want to, but I’d much rather drive to your parents’ than take the Metro,” Natasha said. “They live thirty minutes away from the closest stop. Now, the bags should be off the plane by now.”

Natasha was right, and the baggage claim had only just started moving when they walked up to it. Darcy hadn't packed a ton to go to New Mexico and then Maryland, but it had been more than would fit in her carry on luggage. Since Natasha only had the one, small bag Darcy assumed she'd brought some sort of luggage as well. They didn't have to wait long for both suitcases to appear at the top of the chute. Once they'd grabbed them Natasha headed out to where the rental cars were located.

The car that Natasha had gotten them was a pretty standard sedan, one that wasn't too fancy but not boring and basic either. Essentially, nothing Tony Stark would ever ride in. Pepper Potts, probably, but definitely not Stark. Good enough for their purposes anyways. Natasha let Darcy drive, which was probably a good thing. Not that Darcy doubted SHIELD knew where she lived, but it would've been a little creepy if Natasha just drove them without any questions. Still, Darcy did need the GPS to help her get to the house. She'd never driven out to BWI before and while she had been living in Maryland avoided 495 and 95 at all costs.

The trip took roughly an hour given the fact that they arrived during the middle of rush hour. When they were firmly in an area Darcy could navigate without the use of her GPS, she turned to Natasha. "You know I was going to stay with my parents, but I don't think there's room for you. It's a four-bedroom house and I've no doubt that Judith took over all the space in our room when I stopped coming home."

"That was after first semester your second year, right?" Natasha asked.

Darcy glanced at her quickly. "Yeah. Once I was accepted into the accelerated Master's program I took at least one course every winter and summer term. I didn't have time to come home," she said. It wasn't exactly true considering she really could have gone home after her internship with Jane was over. She’d taken her last online course, the one pertaining to her internship, and the only thing required for her final semester was to finish the thesis she'd started just before leaving for Puente Antigo. If Thor hadn't fallen out of the sky there was every likelihood that she would have come up with some other reason to not go home after the internship was completed.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Natasha said. “If it’s not, I’m sure we can charge Tony for a hotel. He probably won’t even notice.”

“Is that a thing we can do? Or is that a thing we shouldn’t do but are going to do anyways?” Darcy asked.

“Well, he’s making us all move into his Tower, so he should be charged for the moving fees,” Natasha said.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not making anyone move, but let’s certainly use that excuse. Let’s charge him for the U-Haul too,” Darcy said.

“Carolyn put the rental and the first-class seats on his account,” Natasha said. “Pepper cleared that and said it was fine, so let’s see how much we can get away with. And we don’t have to drive back to New York if you don’t want to.”

 

The closer they got to the house the more nervous Darcy got. This was weird. Really weird. She was already anxious about the whole “I have a job and I’m moving in with a not-quite-so theoretical astrophysicist and an alien / Norse god.” The idea that she was moving into a purpose built entire floor of Tony Stark’s Tower was still mind boggling. A year ago, she’d been prepping for an internship in New Mexico with the physics department’s eccentric, yet tenured employee. Having Natasha with her was not helping her nerves.

As she pulled into the neighborhood she said, “There’s a dinky low-level Marriott 20 minutes away.”

“Or,” Natasha said, looking down at her phone, “Bethesda has a better one.”

“That’s like 45 minutes to an hour away depending on traffic,” Darcy said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea for packing up my junk.”

“Tony’s credit card does,” Natasha said.

“Fair point,” Darcy said as she pulled up to the house and parked at the curb. She looked at the house and the yard that could do with a mowing, but was well maintained. The house looked a little more run down and like it needed a power wash since the last time she saw it. Adam, the oldest, was the only one who lived there during the school year. Sam and Judith were only over at UMD, but they were in the dorms rather than commuting home and back.

“You want to leave our stuff here until we decide where we’re staying?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah,” Darcy said as she got out of the car. They were staying at a hotel, not the house. And they were getting separate rooms because the idea of sleeping a few feet away from the Black Widow was only mildly scary. Darcy had a feeling Natasha could see right through her in regards to the hotel thing though.

Darcy had keys to the house, but just unlocking the door and waltzing in didn’t feel right. She rang the doorbell, but that didn’t feel right either.

The door was yanked open and Sam stood on the opposite side of the glass door. “I thought you weren’t going to be here for another few hours.” He glanced at Natasha. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Natalie, Darcy’s roommate. We made a last-minute deal where I’m helping her move this week and she’s gonna help me move next week.” Natasha smiled brightly. “Are you going to let us in?”

Sam opened the glass door. “Why didn’t you just let yourself in?” he asked Darcy. “Mom! Dad!” he hollered over his shoulder. “Darcy’s here early and she brought a friend.”

“Is it a boy?” Judith called from the direction of the kitchen.

“No,” Sam shouted back. “Anyways,” he said turning back to face Darcy. “Keys?”

“Accidentally packed them up in New Mexico,” she lied. Her phone chimed with a text from Jane.

_Where did you pack the results from the latest Bifrost transport?_

Darcy sighed. _It’s in the box labelled Research Notes. Which you should type up._

“Who’s that?” Sam asked as he headed for the kitchen.

“Jane, uh Doctor Foster,” Darcy said as she and Natasha followed after. “She can’t find something we packed up earlier. Natalie, this is Sam, my younger brother.”

“You call the lady who did your internship in the middle of nowhere by her first name?” Sam asked. “You’re still helping her?”

“Well she did start paying me. Anyways,” Darcy said as they walked into the kitchen. The rest of the family was sitting around the dinner table. Adam had a suit jacket draped across the back of his chair and his tie was loosened. It was seven, so work must have run late for him. “This is Natalie, she’s my roommate. It was a very last-minute agreement about helping each other move. Natalie, these are my parents, my older brother Adam, and my younger sister Judith.”

“Hi,” Natasha said brightly. “I’m so sorry about the inconvenience. I didn’t even think about how it’s dinner time.” She laughed. “It was all so last minute.”

“Do you work with Darcy?” Dad asked.

“Same office, different jobs,” Natasha said.

Well that was an understatement.

 Mom looked at Judith. “Well, I guess we can put an air mattress in the girls’ room,” she said.

“Oh, no. We’re staying in a hotel. I don’t want to make extra work for you all,” Natasha said.

“I’m going to go get chairs from the dining room,” Judith said. “Are you hungry? We’ve got extra? Anything to drink?”

 

“It was terrible,” Darcy said, her voice distorted through Jane’s laptop speakers. “The worst.”

“I’m sure you’re overreacting,” Jane said dryly as she unpacked one of the surprisingly many boxes that now decorated the new “Team Thor” (Tony’s words and Pepper had smacked him for it) apartment. She and Thor had spent the better part of the afternoon after they’d returned from New Mexico unpacking. She was in charge of putting things away and he was in charge of the heavy lifting. “Yes, Natasha is intimidating, but it can’t be as bad as you think it was.”

“My parents like her better than me.”

“She’s a spy,” Jane said. “Also, you haven’t gone home in literal years. And you didn’t talk to them very much while we were in Puente Antigo. And they didn’t come to your graduation.”

“Mom, Dad, and Adam had to work. Judith and Sam were still in school,” Darcy said, shrugging. She collapsed back onto the bed, the image bobbing as the mattress did for a moment.

“How long until you head to New York?” Jane asked. She had unfortunately packed all her clothes and belongings rather haphazardly, more concerned with her research materials and equipment than anything else. Some of the devices she used had been cobbled and MacGyvered together. Essentially her equipment was one of a kind and irreplaceable.

It now meant that her winter gear was somehow in the same suitcase as her underwear. Jane had no idea how it happened, but it meant that she was now in the process of unpacking and repacking her things for the move into the Tower. All the boxes of research had more or less been neatly packed up in New Mexico and were currently stacked against a wall in the apartment.

“Eh, probably Monday, maybe Sunday. Adam’s got plans this weekend, Sam’s got work, and mom and dad won’t tell me if they’ll help. Judith said she will though. I’ve got more stuff here than I remember.”

“Mmm. You should take as much time as you need,” Jane said. “Fury got me lab space at Columbia until the labs open in the Tower.”

“Carpool time once the labs and offices open up,” Darcy said. “Means I get to drag you out of the lab when it’s time to sleep.”

“I’m not that bad,” Jane said.

“Whatever, I can’t wait for the five-minute indoor commute once winter hits,” Darcy said.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jane said. She’d never experienced a New York winter, but she hadn’t been looking forwards to it. “But you should spend time with your family. You don’t know when you’ll see them next.”

“You don’t…Look, I talk to my family more than you talk to your mom,” Darcy said.

“My mother lives in London, or London adjacent and works 60 hour weeks as a museum curator, which includes travelling with exhibits. It’s not me not trying to talk to her. It’s her being too busy to answer.”

Both Darcy’s and Jane’s phones pinged. Darcy got to her phone before Jane even moved towards hers on the dresser. Darcy let out a sharp huff of breath. “And now I have to go to work,” she sighed.

“Who did what?” Jane asked.

“There is a lovely viral video about the Avengers and aliens and deities which is in response to a video I watched but deemed unimportant about the role of God in the universe with aliens existing,” Darcy said. “Why do I have to deal with this?”

“Because you agreed to be a social media coordinator for the Avengers,” Jane said. “Though that does sound like it’s outside the bounds of your responsibilities.”

“I’mma message Porter,” Darcy said. “This has to be outside the parameters of my job description. You chucked my stuff into my room, right?”

“Sure did,” Jane said. “Go do your social media thing. Let me know if your plans change.”

“Will do,” Darcy said before reaching to her computer. The image disappeared, leaving Jane staring at an empty chat window.

“Darcy is well, then?” Thor asked as he brought another box into their bedroom.

“Yeah,” Jane said. He put the box on the bed and easily pulled it open despite the tape. “Natasha showed up at the airport in New Mexico though. She’s apparently helping Darcy pack up her stuff.” Inside the box was a mishmash jumble of shoes and books. How exactly that had happened was a mystery, but now she had to deal with it.

She started pulling shoes out and setting them on the bed. She didn’t have many pairs of shoes and the box was mostly full of books so it made more sense to just relabel the box rather than take them out. “Agent Romanov is with Darcy? Is she in any danger that would warrant it?”

“I don’t think so,” Jane said. “I mean, there wasn’t any indication – you don’t think that Phil would let her go there if she was in danger. Fury I can see doing that, but Phil?”

“No,” Thor said, frowning slightly. “I do not believe that Agent Coulson would do such a thing.”

“Maybe she’s just there to ensure that Darcy’s family doesn’t find out about the Avengers,” Jane said. “I can’t see that anything would have come up in a background check about her family, but…” she trailed off. “I think I’m going to call Phil just to check.”

“Coulson,” came the somewhat brisk reply once he picked up.

“Hi, this is Jane. I, uh, why is Agent Romanov with Darcy in Maryland?”

There was a pause. “I was unaware that she wasn’t in New York,” he finally said.

“Darcy said that she showed up at the airport in Roswell to help with the packing,” Jane explained. “And she mentioned that your wife got them upgraded to first class.”

Another pause. “Did she now? I’ll look into it if you’d like, but I’m sure there’s nothing wrong.”

“You didn’t send her? I mean, you don’t have to look into it. I just wanted to make sure Darcy wasn’t in danger or anything. It just – I thought it was a little weird,” Jane said sheepishly.

“Ah – one second,” Coulson said. The phone call went silent, meaning he’d probably muted his side of the conversation. Then, “No, nothing’s wrong. Natasha decided to go along with Darcy to give her some assistance.”

“Okay,” Jane said. “Thanks. Sorry for bothering you.”

“It’s not a problem,” Coulson said.

Jane hung up and looked at Thor. “So apparently she just decided to go. Which is weird. But not terrible.”

“Well, that is good to know,” Thor said. “It will be good for them to get to know one another better if we are to live and work together.” He looked over at the empty pile of boxes sitting against the wall and frowned. “Do we save the boxes for when the Tower is completed?”

Oh. Right. They were going to have to move again in about a month if Tony and Pepper’s schedule proved to be accurate. And since Pepper Potts was involved and Jane had quickly realized Pepper was as intimidating when it came to business and organization as Natasha just was in general, they were probably moving again in a month.

“Uh… Keep them I guess,” Jane said. “We just have to move the same stuff that we moved here. The furniture’s not… The furniture’s not ours,” Jane said flatly. “Oh no.”

“What?” Thor asked.

“We’re going to have to go furniture shopping.”


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha had gotten the two of them connecting rooms, so when Darcy woke up the next morning she could hear Natasha puttering around through the slightly ajar lock off door.

After Darcy had finished getting herself ready in the bathroom, the door was further ajar and the scent of coffee was wafting through. “You ready to go?” she called out as she made sure that she had her phone and everything she needed in her bag.

“Are we going to get breakfast here or at your parents’ house?” Natasha asked. She pulled the door on her side open and Darcy had to pause and stare at what the other woman was wearing.

“What is that?” she finally asked.

“What? Oh,” Natasha said, pulling at the ungodly bright purple t shirt she was wearing. It had a stylized bow and two arrows on it. “There’s a ton of Avengers stuff online. The back of it says Hawkguy. Clint hates it. So of course I had to buy him one.”

“Hawkguy?” Darcy asked. “His call sign’s Hawk _eye_.”

“Somebody must’ve misheard it during the battle,” Natasha said. “Kate’s decided it’s his new call sign and has petitioned Phil to get it changed. That way she’ll be the only Hawkeye.”

“I – Okay,” Darcy said, not really wanting to deal with that statement. “You should see about having Ms. Sokolof look at copyrights and licensing for all of that. I know Pepper got all the Iron Man stuff locked down as soon as he blabbed that he was Iron Man.”

Natasha shrugged. “I’ll float it by the others. You should see the other ones though. Thor’s is pretty amusing.”

 

Surprisingly, the shirt went over well with Sam when they got to the house. Adam had sort of rolled his eyes at it, but Sam had asked if Natalie had been in New York when the aliens tried to invade. As Natasha was being interrogated by Sam, Judith pulled Darcy into what used to be their room.

“What is it?” Darcy asked after Judith shut the door behind them.

“You ruined my plans for this weekend with your roommate being here,” Judith said. She started pacing a little in the small space the room offered.

“I what? And it was definitely not my idea for her to be here,” Darcy said.

Judith looked confused, but said, “I was going to do this tonight, but with Natalie here it’s going to be awkward. So you get to find out now and I’ll tell the others next weekend.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’m transferring from Maryland to Eastern State in New York for the Fall semester.”

Darcy could only stare at her sister for a moment. “I’m sorry, you’re what?” she finally asked. “You – what do you mean ‘tell the others?’ You haven’t told mom and dad you’re transferring schools yet?”

“I – no. Mom and dad gave you so much crap over going to Culver and getting a degree in poli sci. And they’re not – I know I’m going to miss out on in state tuition and I’ll be drowning in student debt, but I’m paying for it all anyways. I don’t want to go into business. I mean, I got a 4.0 both semesters but I _hated_ the two classes I took. And that’s what they want, not me. Sam seems happy with them but I just really, really hated every minute of it.”

“I – okay,” Darcy said, sitting down on what used to be her bed but now resembled a couch. “What do you want to do then?”

“Microbiology.”

“Ho boy,” Darcy said. “Okay. Yeah, they’re not going to be –.”

The door opened and Natasha walked in. “Oh – I’m sorry. Did you – should I?” she gestured to the hallway behind her.

“No, it’s fine,” Darcy said. “Let’s get packing.” Natasha shot her a slightly wary look. “Ah, when’s Sam leaving for work?”

Judith looked at the clock. “About fifteen minutes. I’ll go get the boxes out of the basement,” she said before heading out of the room.

Once Judith was assuredly out of hearing range Darcy hissed out, “Are you here because she’s transferring to ESU?”

“What?” Natasha asked. She genuinely looked surprised, but she was a spy so Darcy didn’t know if she could trust that reaction. “Your sister’s going to be at ESU?”

“She’s transferred there but didn’t tell any of us,” Darcy said. “You’re saying you didn’t know?”

“You genuinely think the background check done in November had any information about your sister’s plans to transfer?” Natasha asked.

“Well, why are you here?” Darcy asked.

“To help you pack your shit up,” Natasha said. “We are going to be living not necessarily together in a few months but we’re going to be living adjacent to one another and we’re more or less going to be working together.”

Darcy would’ve said something in response but Natasha’s demeanor shifted and she said, “So where are we getting started?” right as Judith walked back into the room.  

 

The knowledge that Judith A: was transferring from UMD to ESU, B: hadn’t told anyone else in the family yet, and C: seemed to be genuinely nervous and upset about the prospect of informing the rest of their family worried at Darcy while they packed up her things. Judith was five years younger and hadn’t even started high school yet when Darcy left for college. They’d been close when they were younger before Darcy had left, but it was mostly due to sharing a room. Darcy hadn’t even known that Judith liked science.

Adam had gone into accounting and had seemed to genuinely enjoy it even if he seemed to not like his job too much according to his Facebook posts. She’d known that Sam and Judith were going into business, but she’d thought they wanted to. But microbiology?

There was something about microbiology, something else that was in the back of Darcy’s mind, but she couldn’t quite place what it was.

It wasn’t until she and Natasha were sitting down to eat lunch, Judith off on a quick Starbucks run for them all, when it connected. Considering what she blurted out, it was lucky nobody but the two of them happened to be home.

“Ant Man’s a fucking microbiologist.”

“What?” Natasha asked, clearly confused.

“My sister is going to ESU to study microbiology and Hank is going to be teaching microbiology at ESU in the fall,” Darcy said. “My sister is going to be taking classes from an Avenger. Who I work for. Shit.”

“She’s going into microbiology?” Natasha asked.

“I didn’t – I couldn’t remember what it was Hank does. It just didn’t connect and now he’s going to be teaching there and she’s going to be there and I can’t imagine that this won’t cause problems,” Darcy said.

“Ah, I honestly don’t know,” Natasha said. “We can talk to the others when we get back to New York.”

“You seriously didn’t know about this? This isn’t why you’re here?” Darcy asked.

“I 100% did not know your sister is transferring to ESU. Or that she is going to be studying under Pym,” Natasha said. “Though, to be honest, he probably wouldn’t even make the connection unless you outright tell him she’s your sister.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s a good point. I’m more worried about her making the connection though,” Darcy said. 

“I’m sure there’s lots of potential complications, but that’s not something to worry about while we’re here with your family,” Natasha said.

Sound came from the direction of the garage and Judith called out, “I have much needed caffeine!” She came into the kitchen and gave Darcy her latte and Natasha her black coffee before sitting down with her own drink. “Do you think it’s going to take much longer to pack everything up?”

“I think we’ll get things finished up tomorrow like I’d initially thought even with Natalie here,” Darcy said.

“Okay,” Judith said. “Before you leave could you give me your address in New York?”

Judith looked so hopeful and nervous that the only thing Darcy could say was “Yes.” Judith looked down with a small smile and Darcy sent a panicked look at Natasha.

 

Jane had seen the panic as soon as Darcy Skyped in later that day. After the brief. “My sister’s gong to study microbiology at ESU in the fall and I told her I’d give her my address before I left,” discussion, Jane had called Phil. So, it had become a Skype call with Phil on speakerphone on Jane’s end. Not the best quality, but it was working out okay.  

“I can see this becoming a problem, but there’s a very easy solution in the immediate,” Phil said. “Make excuses for why she can’t come over. I can give you an address to use. As for the university aspect, I agree that Dr. Pym probably wouldn’t notice your sister outright. I’ll look into what classes he’ll be teaching in the Fall.”

“I am 100% not cut out to continuously lie to my sister,” Darcy said. “And my parents are going to give her so much crap about this. She hasn’t even told them yet.”

“Are they going to give her crap for doing something she actually likes?” Jane asked.

“ ‘You can’t make money with a poli-sci degree, Darcy,’” she said, imitating her mother. “ ‘What are you going to do, teach?’”

“Okay. I retract my question,” Jane said. “She may not have a lot of free time to come to your fictional apartment, though with her course load.”

“No doubt more complications will arise when she arrives in New York,” Phil said. “But those issues can be addressed when they appear. There’s no point in worrying over things that may not happen.”

“Okay,” Darcy said. “Thank you for helping to solve this.”

“It’s an unexpected problem to have certainly, but not the worst unexpected problem I’ve had to deal with,” Phil said. “You and Agent Romanov will be returning tomorrow?”

“I was thinking it was going to be more like Monday but apparently she doesn’t want to drive everything up to New York like I’d planned.”

“Pepper’s sending one of the Stark Industries jets to get us,” Natasha called from the other room.

“It’ll be tomorrow,” Darcy said.

“Alright,” Phil said. He paused, and there was some muffled conversation back and forth on the other side of the phone call before he continued, “I have the address for you,” and rattled something off.

Darcy jotted it down quickly and glanced up when Natasha opened the door between their rooms fully. She had a confused look on her face, but didn’t seem to want to elaborate.

“We’ll see you – or I’ll see you tomorrow, Phil,” Natasha said. Once Phil had hung up Natasha leaned against the doorframe and said, “We can work things out with your sister’s presence in town. Don’t try to avoid her to make things easier. Sometimes having a single member of your family on your side is all that you need.” She sighed. “I wouldn’t know, but Carolyn and Pepper’s family sounds like a nightmare.”

“What?” Jane asked.

“It’s a long story she’d probably be glad to tell you because she tells the kids at Xavier’s, but her parents aren’t entirely pleased their child’s a mutant. Apparently, they mostly pretend she doesn’t exist. She said they’re really not pleased that Pepper ‘chose her over them,’” Natasha said, even going so far as to use air quotes at the end. “I’d ask her for the full story if you want to know more.” She shrugged and turned to head back into her room. “Family’s what you make of it, but she seemed really nervous about the whole thing.”

“If it comes to it,” Jane said, causing Darcy to look back at the computer. “Then she gets to sign some NDAs and find out that you work with the Avengers. And live with a legitimate alien.”

“Oh God, do you think Thor’s going to want to meet her?” Darcy asked.

“I am absolutely certain he’s going to want to meet her so we’re going to have to work on a cover story for that at least,” Jane said.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely 100% did not expect there to be a chapter two for this but I realized that I needed to explain the whole Judith to ESU thing for like...twelve stories down the line.

**Author's Note:**

> Natasha has no ulterior motives other than to be a pain in the ass and confuse people.


End file.
